Albanian Post: Police officers in the north of Kosovo demoralized, ask to go home and blame Minister Svecla

The members of the Kosovo police, Albanians from all parts of Kosovo, who have been sent in recent days and weeks to the northern municipalities where the majority of Serbs live, are frustrated, they are there unwillingly, and their equipment is outdated, writes the Albanian Post.

According to the Albanian portal, the police officers avoid talking about it, but they ask why their body armor is old.

"Because they didn't buy us others. I don't want to talk, but on the other hand, I'm irritated by the great ambiguity," an unnamed police officer told the Albanian Post.

The portal writes that this is not the only concern of this Kosovo police officer who has been working overtime for several days in the north, since around 500 Serbs have left the ranks of the police due to the latest decisions of the government in Pristina.

A member of the Kosovo police with whom the Albanian Post spoke says that when he goes to the north he has no idea what he should do.

"The unclear attitude of the authorities made it impossible for the police to have a general operational plan. It is mostly managed according to the situation and from day to day," writes the Albanian Post.

The newspaper quotes the words of one of the high-ranking Kosovo police officers.

"Due to respect for the institution and the specific culture of people from the security sector, police officers are reluctant to express their dissatisfaction, but the situation is catastrophic," said a member of the command structure of the Kosovo Police.

He, as reported by the Albanian Post, blames the political part of the police leadership, especially Minister Xhelal Svecla.

"Frustration and revolt are great," says this police officer.

He added that there were police officers in Jarinje who refused food and want to be allowed to go home.

"They are revolted because they have been there for days in difficult conditions. They would have endured if they had a clear idea why they came to this situation," another official told the Albanian Post.

They state that after 10 days EULEX had to bring them food, clothes and hygiene products.

"The police officers who were helped by KFOR to leave Jarinje are officially sick, but that is not true. They are not sick, they just did not want to stay there," says the Albanian Post spokesman.

Director of the "Dr. Sami Haxhibeqiri" General Hospital in South Mitrovica, Luleta Zubija, says that "no policeman sought medical help at the hospital."

And the president of the Kosovo Police Union, Imer Zeqiri, said that none of the policemen who were removed from Jarinje, where they were working, were ill.

"They had no health problems and were not injured," Zeqiri said.

However, Zeqiri says that the problem is their work for 12 days without the possibility of someone replacing them.

The situation with barricades, without the possibility of movement, without clear directives and goals demoralized many police officers, writes the Albanian portal.

The impossibility of action, poor organization and work without a plan in the north are attributed to Minister Svecla. It is not a secret in the police that "he is a weak minister", concludes the Albanian Post.